Moving Tank Across The Room

[adzilla88]

I'm wanting to relocate my tank as its suffering from excessive algae due to it being positioned too close to a window. (I know, pretty obvious this was going to happen but I thought I could deal with it) Therefore I want to move it to the otherside of the living room, which will mean sliding it maybe 6-8 metres across.

Anyway, the tank's 240l so my plan is to empty all the fish and water out, leaving just the sand, although depending on the weight this may be removed too, Doing the maintenence then refilling with 80-90% of the old water, then adding the fish back.

Here's my questions:

I have no experience of doing this before so I'm unsure whether I can just use storage boxes filled with tank water to hold the fish, or whether I should also bag them?

Do I need to keep the water heated or will the temperature not drop too much in around 1-2 hours? (by the way I'm going to add an airstone to the fish container to avoid a lack of oxygen.

When adding the fish back do I need to acclimatize them, or should they be ok, as the water they are going from will be pretty much the same temperature as the rest of the water going back in?

Does this sound ok?

I just want to go through the process in my head first to avoid any problems when I move it.

Thanks!

 

[KkAaNnEe]

All seems fine.

Fish will be fine, storage boxes also fine

Good luck

 

[STEWARDSONS]

i only needed to remove about 75% of the water in my 300l. i left the fish in and dragged the tank slowly and carefully accross the room, this was on a wooden floor though

 

[Mowbz]

i only needed to remove about 75% of the water in my 300l. i left the fish in and dragged the tank slowly and carefully accross the room, this was on a wooden floor though

The above would be perfect, as long as you leave in enough water for your "tallest" fish to still swim upright, you could just shunt it across the floor. Might be quite hard if you have a carpeted floor though!

 

[adzilla88]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I forgot to mention it's a second hand tank. I know it's easier to leave a little water at the bottom like the previous 2 replies mention, but I'm a little worried about moving it with water in. I'm not sure how much the walls of the tank can take (in terms of water 'swishing' side to side whilst moving it). It's a fairly old juiwel rio tank, and I've noticed alot of silicone has been used to seal some of the edges. I'm just weary about doing this, which is why I was considering taking my stock out during the move. I'm, just not sure whether to risk it... hmmmmmm decisions.

On the up side, I do have wooden floor, which will be easier to slide the tank across.

 

[STEWARDSONS]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I forgot to mention it's a second hand tank. I know it's easier to leave a little water at the bottom like the previous 2 replies mention, but I'm a little worried about moving it with water in. I'm not sure how much the walls of the tank can take (in terms of water 'swishing' side to side whilst moving it). It's a fairly old juiwel rio tank, and I've noticed alot of silicone has been used to seal some of the edges. I'm just weary about doing this, which is why I was considering taking my stock out during the move. I'm, just not sure whether to risk it... hmmmmmm decisions.

On the up side, I do have wooden floor, which will be easier to slide the tank across.

if you move it slowly it wont swish if you do it very slowly. i was worried about doing mine as i wasnt 100% sure my cabinet was very strong. well i now know its a lot stronger than i thought it was!

i have a 300ltr with sand wood and rocks in, i emptied 8 x 12 ltr buckets, 1 x 10 ltr drum and kept the water, i also threw away 4 bucketfulls of water and then moved the tank with what was left in it. so i would say it had around 150ltrs + sand and wood etc when i dragged it.

 

[holidayinn]

Would have to agree, sliding the tank requires much less effort and done vigilantly shouldnt experience any problems.

 

[Proxo]

I moved my 55g by bagging the fish, drained water into big 25L drums (borrowed from my LFS).
Then got a few people to help lift the stand with the tank on top, filled back up & put fish back in.